Three months ago, Spanish legend Juan Carlos Ferrero welcomed the ATP Challenger Tour to his academy in Alicante, with the former World No. 1 hosting the inaugural Ferrero Challenger Open.

In August, another Spanish No. 1 will follow suit. The inaugural Rafa Nadal Open Banc Sabadell was officially announced on Thursday, as the 32-year-old’s hometown of Manacor prepares to host a €43,000 hard-court event. The tournament will be held during the first week of the US Open at the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar.

The ATP Challenger Tour returns to the island of Mallorca for the first time in more than 20 years, when it staged a clay-court event from 1996-97. The tournament would move to the ATP World Tour level the following year, featuring Ferrero, Gustavo Kuerten and Marat Safin among its champions.

This year, the tournament will be held on outdoor hard courts from August 26 to September 2. Nadal’s academy, which was founded in 2016, is home to 26 regulation tennis courts, both clay and hard, indoor and outdoor. 

“The tournament was born with the objective to maintain a firm and dedicated commitment to the promotion and development of tennis,” the organization said in an official statement. “It will be an opportunity for fans to enjoy the quality and talent of some of the best players in the world in a great environment.”

The inaugural edition coincides with the 15th anniversary of Nadal’s two ATP Challenger Tour titles. The current World No. 1 lifted a pair of trophies in 2003, in Segovia, Spain and Barletta, Italy. 

The tournament will feature night sessions from the quarter-finals, starting at 8pm, as well as free admission for spectators.

Kevin Anderson’s record-breaking semi-final victory against John Isner at Wimbledon created memories to last a lifetime for players and fans alike. Six hours and 36 minutes of play on tennis’ greatest stage, Centre Court at the All England Club, will do that.

But there comes a point for the two men competing on the court — when holds become a blur and games add up deep in the fifth set — that it becomes less of a tennis match and more of a battle of wills.

“You’re really in a war of attrition out there. It’s way beyond a normal tennis match or tactics. I mean, it’s just who’s going to outlast each other,” Anderson said. “I’m ecstatic to be through to the finals. At the same time you feel like it should be a draw. But somebody has to win.”

The 32-year-old was facing an opponent who was no stranger to marathon matches — Isner won the longest match in tennis history at SW19 nine years ago, his victory against Nicolas Mahut lasting more than 11 hours over three days. The American also held his first 110 service games of the fortnight before the eighth seed finally broke for the first time in the third set, so earning a crucial break in the decider would not be easy. And it didn’t help that his quarter-final triumph went to 13-11 in the fifth set against Roger Federer.

So how was Anderson able to become the first South African since Brian Norton in 1921 to reach the Wimbledon final?

“I don’t know what got me through today’s match other than just a will to try to succeed, keep pushing myself,” Anderson said. “I tried as much as I could to just keep fighting. I take a lot of pride in that. Fortunately, I was able to find a way over the finish line.”

Many times it takes a bit of luck to pull through a match like this. But in the case of this year’s New York Open champion, an unexpected talent played a key role. Anderson says that when he was young, he had elbow surgery. So for four or five months, he played only with his left hand.

That came in handy with Isner serving at 24-24 in the fifth set at 0/15. Anderson slipped trying to get out of the way of a body serve to hit a backhand return, falling to the hallowed grass. When he got up, he hit a left-handed forehand out of desperation, and ended up winning the point. Anderson would break in that game and then hold for the victory.

“A lot of guys with two hands can’t hit the ball left-handed,” Anderson said. “It was interesting because I hit it pretty well. I was reflecting that I wouldn’t have thought back then that I was going to use a left-handed shot at the semi-finals of Wimbledon.”

Before last year’s US Open, Anderson had advanced to just one major quarter-final. As recently as March 2017, the South African was No. 79 in the ATP Rankings due to injury. And now, he is into his second Grand Slam championship match. On the surface, it is an incredible rise. So how has the four-time ATP World Tour titlist done it?

“I don’t feel like there’s massive secrets. I work really hard. I have good goals. I’m always looking to improve. I’ve got a great team behind me. I have a lot of support,” Anderson said. “I feel like some of my best tennis I feel is still ahead of me. Look at the game, I think there’s still areas I can do better, improve both physically, mentally, emotionally… Hopefully I’ll be able to keep it up because there’s still a lot that I want to play for in terms of achievements.”

In the Flushing Meadows final, Anderson lost in straight sets against Nadal, who is down two sets to one in Wimbledon’s other semi-final against three-time champion Novak Djokovic, with play suspended due to curfew. In New York, the World No. 8 took in the moment. But this time around, his focus is on one thing only: winning.

“At the US Open I was in the finals. Maybe I felt sort of my crowning achievement was actually getting to the finals,” Anderson said. “[I’m] definitely hungry to go one step further.”

So while Friday’s epic will stay with Anderson forever, it’s not time to celebrate quite yet.

“I’m trying to put that to the side a little bit because I have a final to play in not that long a period of time,” Anderson said. “It was a very emotional match. I was emotional after the match. [But] I need to reset as much as possible for Sunday.”

Novak Djokovic is potentially one set away from playing in his first Grand Slam final since the 2016 US Open (l. to Wawrinka), but he will have to wait until Saturday to resume a bid for a place in his fifth Wimbledon title match (3-1).

The Serbian leads Rafael Nadal 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(9) in their Wimbledon semi-final after winning a critical tie-break just after 11pm when play was postponed due to a local curfew.

Fans saw some of the historic rivalry’s best tennis during the abbreviated contest. Djokovic and Nadal are meeting for the 52^nd time in their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry.

The Serbian started quicker, stretching Nadal out wide to his forehand and opening up the court well. The former World No. 1 pushed Nadal to deuce in his first three service games before breaking in the seventh game.

Djokovic, dialled in on serve, held to love to take a one-set advantage. But Nadal wouldn’t be bullied in the second set and gained confidence in his forehand. Both men raised their levels, trading three consecutive breaks but Nadal held at 5-3 to even the semi-final.

The third set, their final on Friday, was their best yet. Nadal was the aggressor, dictating with his forehand and forcing Djokovic to sprint from side to side and slide on the grass. The Spaniard won eight of 11 net points.

But Djokovic fought off three set points before whipping a backhand winner past Nadal at net to bring up his second set point, which the Serbian converted when Nadal netted a backhand.

The two were made to wait because of Friday’s six-and-a-half-hour semi-final between John Isner and Kevin Anderson, and their setting changed slightly as organisers closed the Centre Court roof. But none of that mattered when the two legends made their long-awaited appearance.

Most Tour-Level Meetings In Open Era Rivalry

^{*including Friday’s SF} 

The winner of Djokovic-Nadal will meet Anderson, who prevailed 26-24 in the fifth set to reach his second Grand Slam final (2017 US Open) and first Wimbledon title match.

No two players in the Open Era have faced each other more than Nadal and Djokovic, and it’s their 14^th meeting at a Grand Slam (Nadal leads 9-4).

But they haven’t encountered each other this deep at a Grand Slam since 2013 Roland Garros, when Nadal stayed perfect in Grand Slam semi-finals against Djokovic (4-0). The last time the two played anywhere was in May at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome, where Nadal won in straight sets as Djokovic continued his comeback from elbow surgery.

Nadal, No. 1 in the ATP Rankings, is looking to stay firmly on top of the tennis world and reach his sixth Wimbledon final (2-3) and his first since 2011 (l. to Djokovic). Djokovic is looking to continue his statement run at SW19 and is going for his fourth Wimbledon title.

John Isner said there was no consolation in featuring in the two longest Grand Slam championship matches in tennis history after losing to Kevin Anderson 26-24 in the fifth set of a six-hour and 36-minute encounter at The Championships on Friday.

“[There’s] no consolation to me,” said Isner, eight years on from his record-breaking 70-68 fifth-set victory over Nicolas Mahut in the Wimbledon first round. “I’m not going to hang my hat on that, for sure. It’s more just disappointment to lose. I was pretty close to making a Grand Slam final, and it didn’t happen.”

Despite the loss, Isner takes plenty of positives from the fortnight. By making his first Grand Slam semi-final he is projected to rise to a career-high No. 8 in the ATP Rankings, and he gave his hopes of qualifying for his first year-end Nitto ATP Finals a massive boost.

During the grueling fifth set, the American jokingly asked the chair umpire to play a tie-break against Anderson in the fifth set, but does see merit in playing five tie-break sets at major championships. “I personally think a sensible option would be 12-all… If one person can’t finish the other off before 12-all, then do a tie-break there. I think it’s long overdue. I’m a big part of this discussion, of course.”

Watch Anderson-Isner highlights. Video not available in U.K. U.S.A, Italy, Austria, Germany, Spain and South America.

The 33-year-old Isner, who had never previously gone beyond the third round on nine visits to the All England Club, believes that his first run to a major championship semi-final will help him in the future.

“It was a very good tournament for me,” said Isner. “I made the semi-finals, my first ever Grand Slam semi-final. I’m very happy about that. Of course, I’m disappointed to lose today. It’s up to me to not let this match linger going forward, when I get back in America and play on the hard courts, which is my favourite surface.

“I need to be able to hit the delete button on this. It will be tough, very tough. I’ll just let my body recover, which it will. At 33, I’m feeling as good as I’ve ever felt. Let my body recover, then just mentally refocus, try to have a good summer. It’s generally a very good time for me. We’ll see if I can play well.”

Isner has a 20-12 record on the season, which includes his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 crown at the Miami Open presented by Itaú (d. Zverev). He also beat Marin Cilic and Juan Martin del Potro en route to the title.

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